KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government should respect the voters’ mandate in GE14 and not consider any cooperation with Umno ever, DAP deputy chairman Gobind Singh Deo said today.
Gobind, who is also communications and multimedia minister, put his foot down and reiterated his party’s opposition to partnering its political nemesis amid a news report citing Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz seeking an alliance with PH parties.
“DAP will not work with Umno. Period. They have opposed us to the fullest in GE14.
“We asked voters to reject them with the hope of building a New Malaysia. We should not now be cooperating with them,” Gobind said in a statement on his Facebook page that referenced the news report by The Malaysian Insight yesterday.
He noted the recent trend of former Umno lawmakers at both state and federal levels joining Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Parti Pribumi Malaysia Bersatu (PPBM) and said such matters deserved increased scrutiny within the four-party PH coalition.
He promised to raise the matter at the next PH leadership meeting.
The third-term Puchong MP also urged fellow leaders in PH component parties to prioritise their electoral pledges to “clean and save Malaysia” by reforming public institutions and improve public welfare.
The Malaysian Insight yesterday reported Nazri on a nationwide tour to sell his idea of Umno entering into a political alliance with PKR and DAP to ensure his party’s survival until the next general election, amid speculation that it may be deregistered soon.
Umno currently has only 38 MPs, after a series of desertions that started after the May 9 elections.
Yesterday, PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail was reported saying the intake of former BN lawmakers, especially those from Umno, into PH was needed to give the coalition two-thirds control of Parliament’s lower House and smoothen the policy-making process.
In the latest, Malay broadcaster Astro Awani today reported an anonymous source claiming that former Umno vice-president Tan Sri Rahim Thamby Chik will be accepted into PPBM at the party’s convention in Melaka later this afternoon.
